In a pivotal moment within the ongoing U.S. antitrust case against tech behemoth Google, Prabhakar Raghavan, Head of Google Search, has unveiled jaw-dropping figures that shed light on the company’s fervent quest for search engine supremacy in 2021. The search giant, in its resolute bid to maintain its dominant position in the search realm, astonishingly invested a staggering $26.3 billion, positioning itself as the default search engine on various high-profile platforms.
Revealed during the ongoing lawsuit, Google’s strategic allocation of this colossal sum aimed to secure default search privileges on a multitude of platforms. A substantial chunk of this investment, a whopping $18 billion, was channeled toward Apple, cementing Google’s status as the primary search engine on the Safari browser.
This disclosure came to light amid a spirited debate between the parties involved and Judge Amit Mehta, who consistently champions transparency in the trial proceedings. The U.S. Department of Justice has expressed apprehensions about Google’s mammoth financial outlay, deeming it an unfair tactic that places smaller competitors at a severe disadvantage while eroding competitiveness within the search engine landscape.
In a bid to underscore the magnitude of this substantial investment, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, revealed that its search advertising generated approximately $44 billion in the past three months and an astounding $165 billion over the last year. The broader advertising business, which encompasses revenue from YouTube ads, contributed nearly $90 billion to Google’s coffers.
This strategic maneuver, which necessitated significant financial commitments, saw Google willingly relinquishing 16% of its modern search revenue and a remarkable 29% of its profits in its relentless pursuit of securing default search dominance. As the antitrust case continues to unfold, the impact of Google’s financial juggernaut on the competitive landscape of the tech industry remains a pivotal point of contention, highlighting the enormous stakes at play.
